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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Faux Etched Metal

Love the look of etched metal, but not crazy about the chemicals?

On the Bead Cruise, instructor Tracy Stanley showed us how to use texturing plates to achieve an etched metal look without the chemicals! She simply taped the metal blank and texture plate down to her bench block and hammered away to impress the texture onto the metal. Pure genius! For mine, I used Vintaj altered blanks and sanded the surface to bring out the texture. Tracy showed examples using copper and then antiqued them in liver of sulfur. At first I thought her examples were etched metal, they were fantastic!

Brass texture plates are generally used for PMC and can be found at places like PMC123.

Tracy is a fun and fearless teacher that encourages experimentation and creativity in her classes. If you have the chance I highly recommended signing up for one of her upcoming classes at Bead & Button!

22 comments:

Tracy is awesome! I took her class at last years' Bead & Button and I am thinking of taking another. She sold me a small set of those texture plates and I bang the hell out of them all the time. But my samples are so small I have to watch banging the hell out of my fingers as well! Love the look. Will get them out again to play. Enjoy the day! Erin

Hello - I am trying to use a mini rolling mill for the same effect, but getting frustrated quickly. This looks like a viable alternative. Quick question: How long will the metal plates last before they are flattened beyond use? Thanks!!